


A Perfect Hem

by FatalCookies



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Implied/Referenced Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-31
Updated: 2016-03-31
Packaged: 2018-05-30 08:36:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6416512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FatalCookies/pseuds/FatalCookies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The revolution doesn’t always come with mussed hair, scraped edges, and swords blazing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Perfect Hem

**Author's Note:**

> From the prompt, "Where have you been?"

The elegant, the inimitable Blue Diamond sweeps into the counsel room with all of her usual airs and graces–but without her Pearl. Yellow Pearl, upon noticing, thrusts up her chin, narrows her eyes… and tries not to choke on her own tongue. 

It’s the right thing to do. Her Diamond, as well, narrows her eyes at the entrance, and at the obvious absence. Yellow Pearl is dying to hear her ask about it, to prod—even to ask her counterpart if she’s finally gotten rid of that dingy, vintage model, as she’s heard her Diamond mutter about before—but Yellow Diamond does not. She only tilts her head, oh-so-subtly, and says, “How kind of you to join us at last.”

“My thanks for your patience,” Blue Diamond says in her wispy tones. 

The White Pearl across the room passes Yellow the briefest of looks, and it is all she can do not to bristle and huff right then and there, at her Diamond’s feet. 

(She cannot possibly be _that_  obvious.)

–

The meeting is a nicety and a formality more than anything. Yellow Pearl files away a few tidbits of information, a few words said, token utterances which may, one odd and perhaps-not-so-long-in-coming day be of real use—but it would be foolish to admit (quietly, to herself) that she is not distracted. 

Somewhere amidst it all, she becomes focused on the idea of _outside_. Blue Diamond was the last to arrive—and if she is finally listening enough to become self-conscious of the appearance of her own Pearl, it would stand to reason that she would have her stand _outside_  during any meetings—so surely, all this distraction is for nothing after all, surely, the moment the meeting is adjourned, the moment her Diamond stands to leave, the moment the door opens, the instant they step _out…_

Only, there is no patiently-waiting Pearl, there. 

Blue Diamond whisks herself away without another word, and Yellow Pearl follows her Diamond’s steps with swift steps and a horrible knot slowly tightening in her belly.

–

Whispers can be passed along. It has to be a whisper, for a Pearl to utter it—but then, how else are they to watch out for one another, if not to do something so little as whisper to each other?

It is only five days before at least three different whispers come back. None of them have seen the Pearl of Blue Diamond in any recent meetings. 

Yellow Pearl spends an entire evening mercifully alone, tapping her fingertips rapidly against her gem. She thinks about how ludicrous it will look to pass along a second-hand projection of a renegade she’s never even seen with her own two eyes. She prides herself on perfect recall, and finds herself fretting, still, about the downgrade of quality—of one more layer of removal—of getting it wrong where another before her had— _does—_ get it right.

Past tense starts creeping into her thoughts, and her fingers tap faster.

–

And then, in a follow-up meeting some weeks later, in walks Blue Diamond with her Pearl—veiled eyes, poised hands, silent-throat and all. 

Yellow Pearl doesn’t let her jaw drop. But she has to clench her teeth to prevent it.

–

This meeting, though it ought to have been all formalities, brings up key points that the Diamonds wish to discuss in more detail. They send out their Pearls, and there—right there in front of the Pink Pearl and the White Pearl, Yellow stalks right over and grabs Blue’s wrist.

“Where have you _been_?” she hisses. “No Pearl could remember seeing you for _weeks_  surrounding their last meeting—did the Diamond’s veil finally fall over her head? You’ve probably been misplaced, lounging about in a closet for the last few weeks while I’ve been out, having to be the eyes and ears for both of us—!”

Blue Pearl slips her hand through Yellow’s, gives her fingers a gentle squeeze, and drops her mouth open in a smile. She shakes her head. But then, oddly, she hesitates. Yellow frowns more deeply as Blue slowly brushes her hands over her gem. She makes a fist, pops out her fingers wide, and then retracts it into a fist again, settling her closed fingers over her gem.

It’s not like it’s unheard of. Far from, in fact. Yellow still hears herself go a little flat, and a little dark, as she asks, “And it took you _this long_  to reform?”

Blue hesitates again. Then she brushes the edges of her bangs—which, Yellow notices suddenly, have a slight taper they did not before—and the edges of her skirt, whose hem has dropped a smidgen, and which drapes in a longer, slimmer style. 

“It had to be right,” Yellow Pearl says. She sounds hollow even to her own ears. Blue Pearl merely nods.

It isn’t unusual, of course. The permanent alteration of one’s appearance modifiers does require—that is, if some gem wants their Pearl to look jut so, the process takes time, and the best way to achieve the result would be—

(It occurs to Yellow Pearl that the mussed hair of a renegade is as much a _symbol_ as it is a mere indication of dishevelment, and lack of care. Her recall is perfect, after all. But that doesn’t mean she has been the one doing the recalling, and it certainly doesn’t mean she is the best to do it.

It occurs to her, too, that she should be relieved. This was not a death sentence. Even if it could have been—and it always could be—it was not _this_  time. That should be a relief.)

Blue Pearl drops her head softly, smiles—she gestures to herself, mimes an uneven skirt, brushes her thumbs across her cheeks as if she could show off scuff marks and undesirable edges—but Yellow Pearl reaches for her hands. Blue Pearl falls quiet.

Something fierce holds Yellow Diamond’s head high. Her Pearl was made in her image; it isn’t so strange she should feel a flicker of the same.

“You missed the last meeting,” Yellow says, the gem on her chest already setting aglow. “There were a few little mentions I suspect you’ll want to be hearing…”

–

The revolution doesn’t always come with mussed hair, scraped edges, and swords blazing. It comes sometimes with a touch of quiet rage at a too-perfect skirt and a new taper to soft blue bangs.

**Author's Note:**

> This work was originally posted on Tumblr, and can be found [here](http://fatalcookies.tumblr.com/post/141863109773/yellow-pearlblue-pearl-where-have-you-been).


End file.
